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SOME FACTS 



CONCERNING 



The Teacher's Preparation for 
His Work. 



ISSUED BY 



The Department of Education, 

J. J. DOYNE, State Superintendent ^ 
Little Rock, Arkansas. 



CENTEAL PRINTING COMPANY 
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS 



SOME FACTS 



CONCERNING 



The Teacher's Preparation for 
His Work. 



ISSUED BY 



The Department of Education, 

J. J. DOYNE, State Superintendent, 
Little Rock, Arkansas. 



CENTRAL PRINTING COMPANY 
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS 



D. OF D. 

}Ee 30 1909 






The Teacher's Preparation for 
His Work. 



FOREWORD. 

If the history of other States shall be taken as a 
criterion, it must be concluded that the best results 
flowing from the work in the schools of all classes have 
been secured in the States where those trained in the 
methods involved in this most difficult of all processes, 
the leading out, directing, conserving, and utilizing 
the various mental faculties, have been in charge of 
the work. 

THE UNTRAINED TEACHER. 

Too many young people take up the work of teach- 
ing with but vague conception of the great principles 
involved in mind training. It is granted that, in many 
cases, knowledge of the subject matter to be taught 
is not lacking. It may also be granted that those young 
people have had the advantage of the very highest 
order of instruction themselves. But the fact that one 
has been well taught, by no means makes him, as a 
result, a good teacher. The fact that one has a vast 
fund of learning does not necessarily equip him for 
the duties of an instructor. If the '' pouring in" pro- 
cess is alone to be considered, he may be able to 
do this work. But this is often the most hurtful 
form that so-called teaching may take. The normal 
child is possessed inherently of certain faculties. The 
training of these faculties after an orderly method, 
the presenting of material from the text-book or other 
sources, so that it shall not clog or stultify the develop- 
ment of these faculties, so that no one shall be urged 



into undue activity to the detriment of the others, is 
of much greater importance than many seem to think ; 
and, without a study of. the underlying principles at 
the foundation of all rightly directed instruction, no 
teacher can hope to secure the best results from his 
work. True the teacher may follow, in the main, the 
line of teaching pursued by his instructor, but this is 
at best but a feeble imitation, with a chance of failure, 
in most instances, from the fact that he can assign to 
himself and to others no well-defined reason for his 
methods. 

EFFECTIVE TEACHING. 

If the text book instruction were alone to be con- 
sidered, there might be some reasonable hope that even 
the teacher without special training would make a suc- 
cess; but this is the least important part of the 
teacher's work. The pupils who face the teacher day 
after day as pupils are to become the men and women 
of active, busy, exacting life in a few years. The 
knowledge obtained in the school must be so assimilated 
as to be of use to them when occasion demands its 
exercise. Physical development comes as a result from 
the exercise of the various parts of the human organ- 
ism; mental development can be secured only in the 
well-ordered exercise of the intellectual faculties. It 
must be conceded that in most of the work done by 
the young teacher who has given no special study to 
pedagogical laws the memory is by far the most re- 
spected faculty, and but scant occasion is offered to 
the others for their share of attention. Thus many a 
pupil can answer glibly questions of varied character 
in almost any subject embraced in the average school 
curriculum, while entirely unable to master even in 
its simplest details work that calls for original investi- 
gation and make clear statement of results in his own 
phraseology. Take them out of the realm of text-book, 
or the ofttimes too ready assistance of the teacher, and 
they are at sea without chart or compass. Yet, if the 
school is to serve its highest end, it must render the 
pupil more and more independent, alert, conscious of 
his own powers and eager to exercise them. 



UNSATISFACTORY RESULTS. 

That the teacher who has given no study to this 
phase of the work can bring about such results is as 
unreasonable as it is unusual. Small wonder is it, 
then, that we find so many children unwilling to con- 
tinue year after year in the schools, when they can see 
no good results as an outcome from attendance. Small 
wonder is it that some teachers must be ever seeking 
new fields in which to repeat their haphazard perform- 
ance. Small wonder is it that a utilitarian public, 
taxed to support her school interests, is inclined to ira- 
veigh against the meager results in the way of intelli- 
gent, resourceful, purposeful youth seen in those who 
pass from the schoolroom to the varying activities of 
present day life. 

LACK OF PROFESSIONAL TRAINING IN 
ARKANSAS. 

A careful study of the professional qualifications 
of the teachers of Arkansas reveals the fact that a very 
small percentage of them have had any special training 
for the great work in which they are engaged. True 
it is that many of them, by attendance at teachers ' asso- 
ciations and institutes, by reading courses, and by an 
earnest endeavor to take advantage of all opportunities 
for improvement, have been able to place themselves 
in position to do most satisfactory work, and they are 
today entitled to recognition in the ranks of our very 
best instructors. To their skill, earnestness, and pro- 
gressive spirit the State owes its present advancement 
in educational affairs, and from their schools, either in 
city or rural districts, have gone forth many whose 
work and worth have added luster to the vocation to 
which they have devoted their time and talents. 

EXPERIENCE A DEAR TEACHER. 

It took work— hard, persistent, continuous work — 
to accomplish this, and too much credit cannot be given 
to those who have thus earned the right to place and 
preferment. Think what energies have been wasted, 

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what failures have been endured, what wrongs have 
been perpetrated on the innocent pupil, what loss of 
time has been occasioned by the fact that persons with- 
out pedagogic training, out of sympathy with the work, 
looking only at the financial end of it, planning to drop 
it as soon as something better offers, have been, in 
many instances, in charge of our schools. Certainly it 
was necessary that directors put some one in charge of 
the work, and with the lack of opportunity for securing 
trained teachers, the only thing left was to take such as 
were at hand. 

THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 

Fortunately, circumstances have now changed and 
another year will see established at Conway a State 
Normal School, for the training of teachers, specially 
for the rural schools. It will be the aim of those con- 
nected with the institution to train specially in the 
methods best adapted to the needs and conditions of 
child-life, while not underestimating the importance of 
a thorough training in subject-matter. 

ITS WORK IN GENERAL. 

The school will be in no sense a college, though sub- 
jects usually embraced in a college course will be found 
in its curriculum. Those in attendance may expect to 
be treated as learners, but lessons of a different sort 
from those heretofore studied will be stressed. The 
many may know, but it is given to the few to be able 
to impart. The many may recognize the vast differ- 
ence between the unlettered child and the cultured 
citizen ; the few only understand the processes by which 
the wonderful transformation has been wrought. The 
many impress the child with the implied right of the 
teacher to have control over him; the few only arouse 
in the child the earnest desire to control himself. The 
many may teach by precept the great moral truths that 
constitute the sum total of one's duties to himself and 
to others; the few only by example, rather than by 
precept, encourage the development of those nobler 
impulses that expand into the graces which so well 
adorn the highest types of healthful, hopeful American 
citizenship. 

9 



ITS SPECIAL WORK. 

It is the peculiar province of the Normal School to 
promote and to foster correct ideas as to the duties, 
the privileges, the opportunities and the responsibil- 
ities of those who are to engage in the work of training 
the youth of our land. Three points of view must 
necessarily be stressed in order that the student of the 
Normal School may rightly appreciate the calling to 
which he, for a time at least, will devote his talents and 
his energies. 

First. A knowledge of the subject to be taught. 

Second. A knowledge of the laws governing mind 
growth and discipline. 

Third. A knowledge of the results likely to be 
attained as a natural sequence from the instruction 
given. 

CONDITIONS OF ADMISSION. 

Under the provisions of the Normal School law, 
the Board is authorized to arrange a course of study, 
decide as to terms of admission of those who may not 
be the regular appointees of the county examiners, and 
to take general control of the Normal School interests. 

In order that it may be known just what provisions 
are made in genejal for admission, the following infor- 
mation is taken from the law : 

1. Tuition free to citizens of the State only. 

2. Pupils must be not less than sixteen years of 
age, in good health, of good moral character, and must 
have completed the work outlined in the graded course 
of study prescribed for the common schools of the 
State. 

3. Pupils must sign an agreement to teach for a 
period of two years in the State after graduation. 

GRADUATES. 

Full graduates of the school are entitled to a di- 
ploma, granting them the privilege of teaching any- 
where in the State for a period of six years. At the 
expiration of this time, such diplomas may, upon pro- 
per showing, be converted into a life license. 

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EXPENSE OF ATTENDING. 

As to expense it may be said that the citizens of 
Conway will be able to provide for board and lodging 
for Normal School students at very reasonable rates. 
Conway has two large colleges now established there, 
and many of the pupils frona these institutions board 
in private families. The law provides for an incidental 
fee of $5.00 and a library fee of $3.00, which must be 
paid on admission to the school; these are the only 
expenses incident to attendance. 



WHO MAY ATTEND. 

As to admission, it is provided that each county in 
the State shall be entitled to one scholarship for every 
twenty white teachers in the county, as shown by the 
latest report to the State Superintendent, appointment 
to be made by the County Examiner. Should any county 
fail to have its full representation present within ten 
days after the opening of the school for the fall term, 
the Board of Trustees has power to make other appoint- 
ments in order of application, subject to the approval 
of the examiner of the county from which the applica- 
tion may come. The Board of Trustees shall determine 
as to the terms of admission of all others. 



LOCATION OF SCHOOL. 

Conway is eminently suitable for the location of 
such an institution, being near the center of the State, 
easy of access— only thirty miles from the State cap- 
ital — having three daily trains each way. The health 
record of the town is of the very best character. The 
moral and religious tone of the community is of the 
highest order, and the educational spirit unexcelled. 
Despite the fact that the citizens had already given 
more than one hundred thousand dollars towards the 
establishment of two other schools, they have contrib- 
uted in this instance nearly sixty thousand dollars, 
besides donating a tract of eighty acres of land. 

12 



SCHOOL BUILDING. 

The first building to be erected will cost complete 
over fifty thousand dollars, and in arrangement and 
equipment will furnish the very best advantages to 
those who may be in attendance. That you may have 
some idea as to its size and general appearance, cuts, 
showing the front elevation and floor plans are found 
herein. 

THE FACULTY. 

Who shall compose the faculty is a question yet to 
be determined by the Board of Trustees. Certainly an 
effort will be made to put the work in charge of those 
whose training and experience will enable them to 
reflect credit upon the school and to secure for it the 
patronage to which it is justly entitled. Too long has 
the State been waiting for the opportunity to secure 
well-equipped teachers for our schools for anything to 
be left undone toward making it a success, 

DEMAND FOR BETTER TEACHERS. 

The increasing demand for better teachers and the 
willingness on the part of directors to pay better sal- 
aries in order to secure them augurs well for the future 
of our schools. No less does it indicate that the teacher 
who fails to see what this portends for him, should he 
fail to seek to improve his professional standing, will 
soon find himself in the ranks of the undesirable. 

MARKS OF PROGRESS. 

The year just past has shown marked increase in 
interest in every department of school work. The 
standard of requirements for teachers has been raised, 
the salaries have been increased, better houses have 
been built, directors have organized, the length of 
school term has been extended, most of the examiners 
have been active in institute and associational work. 
The day of better things is dawning. With the open- 
ing of our Normal School next September will begin 

13 



an era of advancement toward efficiency in the prepara- 
tion of those who are to train the young minds of our 
State for the active, absorbing, exalted privileges of 
American citizenship unparalleled in the history of the 
State. 

PERSONAL. 

Your interest in extending this work, in encourag- 
ing attendance at the Normal, in arousing the patrons 
and directors of the school to the value of the work 
done by trained instructors is earnestly requested. No 
patriotic citizen, realizing the present day demands for 
the highest order of cultured intellect in all lines of 
activity, can afford to be indifferent in a matter of such 
vital concern. 



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y 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 761 734 2 



